TWIN STARS OF CHILE
over the sides of the animals, sticking out
many feet both fore and aft. The Chileans
have a way of making almost anything ac
commodate itself to packsaddle transpor
tation.
Sharing the streets with the packsaddle
donkeys are the strings of carts, drawn in
the fashion of the country-one horse
hitched between the shafts, and at its left
a second, attached to the cart by means of
a breast collar and a single rope trace.
This second horse carries a saddle, and
the free end of the breast strap is fastened
thereto. Its main duty is to carry the man
who drives the cart. The single trace en
ables it to help out the horse in the shafts
on steep grades or in heavy mud.
THE SPRING AND SUMMER BEAUTIES OF
VINA DEL MAR
The life which ebbs and flows down
town and on the heights of Valparaiso
may be picturesque and distinctive, but the
real thrills are reserved for those who go
to its Vifiadel Mar in summer. Playing the
dual role of an Atlantic City and a fash
ionable suburb, this community is one vast
flower garden five miles long, climbing
from the seashore to the heights. Villas
bowered in roses, wistaria, poppies, pan
sies, blooming trees, and rich shrubs; cha
lets standing on terraces clad in all the gay
colors of Chile's floral wealth; high-walled
gardens, formal in treatment but warm
and beautiful in aspect-all these join with
blue sky, gray rocks, and ultramarine sea
to make a setting for the gay summer life
for which the great seaport has long been
famous (see Color Plate V).
Vifia del Mar at the height of the sum
mer social season is the very incarnation of
quiet, dignified smartness. The magnifi
cently matched horses drawing the finest
examples of the coach builder's art, the
dogcarts, and other types of horse-drawn
vehicles share the boulevards with the
latest European and American custom
built motor cars.
When the inland weather becomes hot
and dusty, all of the socially elect of Santi
ago and of the other cities and towns of
central Chile come down and take villas
or chalets here (see map, page 140).
Horse racing is a passion with the Chile
ans, and the summer racing season at the
Vifia del Mar Jockey Club brings to its
tracks the best stables of the whole coun-
try. The grand stands on Sunday present
a living Who's Who of Chile (p. 222).
Joviality is a sparkling characteristic of
life in Vifia del Mar. The Valparaisan
will dance until the wee small hours have
begun to grow large again, amid surround
ings that include light-illuminated foun
tains which pour out their waters in all
hues. He may sleep late, but next morn
ing he will bathe in Fisherman's Bay, revel
on the narrow sandy stretch, and then go
to the pier to sip his wine and watch the
passing show. The water, however, chilled
by the proximity of the Humboldt Cur
rent, is rather too cold for the women, and
most of them prefer to look on.
When one boards a train at Valparaiso
for Santiago, the Capital City of the great
ribbon republic that lies between the crest
of the Andes and the sea, with its head
resting well within the Tropics and its feet
in the Antarctic Ocean,* the airline dis
tance is only about 50 miles, but the rail
road journey is more than 1oo miles. The
train is drawn by an electric locomotive
built in the United States, while its pas
senger cars, of North American design,
are of European construction.
Train travel in Chile in midwinter is
not a pleasant experience, for there are no
heating facilities in the cars; but if one
has his steamer rugs along, the panorama
from the window is a delight to the eye.
On one of my trips from port to capital I
took a slow, mixed train in order to ob
serve the rural life of the country.
CLAPPING "ALL ABOARD"
When everybody was aboard there was
no sonorous call of the Spanish equivalent
of "All aboard," but a clapping of hands,
which started at the engine and swept back
along the platform to the rear coach. It
made one feel that the crowd on the plat
form was applauding the departure of the
travelers. However, with the last clap a
bell rang and the train began to move.
Leaving Valparaiso, the line runs north
ward through the low coastal mountains
and into what resembles in many respects
one of the sequestered valleys of middle
California. Here and there are fine ha
ciendas, where one may discover what for
* See, also, "A Longitudinal Journey Through
Chile," by Harriet Chalmers Adams, in the
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE for Septem
ber, 1922.
215